Author's Notes: Welcome, one and all, to the second story I have ever posted. For any of you that have read the author's notes in my first story, I remember saying that I'm only going to write one story at a time. The reason why I'm ditching that idea is in my profile, but I'll summarize it right here in three sentences: So many cool stories in my head. Must writer them down. Must post them.
And that is what led to this, a... novelization? Yeah, maybe not the most original of ideas, but hey, this is fanfiction. If we had originality, we would be writing our own stories. Personally speaking, I've always thought that if someone wants to see a story, they should go watch/play the movie/tv show/ game than read a fanfic novelization of it. I always saw fanfic as a way to take an established world and twist it ever so slightly to create something unique.
Well, I hope you enjoy this anyways, even if this chapter is basically just a retread of Premonition.
"What does it take to win the day? What does it take to save everyone and everything in existence? For it is such a fragile place they live in; a place that is now on the precipice of darkness. A place to be swallowed whole by the monster in the night; a monster that even I am unable to defeat."
"Do you doubt their abilities? Do you doubt their conviction?"
"No, I do not. I have watched them as you have instructed, and I see they have what is needed to vanquish the darkness."
"Than what is your concern? Why do you worry for them?"
"What if they fail? What if their conviction and ability are not enough?"
"They will not fail. Have faith in them. Have faith in all of them. We no longer need to be their shepherds, for they are no longer our sheep. For they are their own shepherds now, tending to their own flock. We need not give them victory; we need only give them the tools for their victory, and they will tear down darkness itself and banish it with the light. Mark my words: when this is over, they will have no need for gods, for they will be their own gods, masters of their own destiny, and even fate itself will be bent to their whim. Mark my words, and mark them well, for when this is over, our guidance will no longer be needed."
"I do hope that you are correct."
"It is not a matter of hope; it is merely a matter of time."
Fire Emblem Awakening:
Masters of Fate
Chapter One: Premonition
Splash! They continue running, their footsteps echoing throughout the empty, foreboding and, quite frankly, dank halls. Sounds of battle are heard in the distance, the other members of The Shepherds fighting a desperate battle against an uncountable force of Risen. Victory can only be attained in one way: Validar must die. They skid to a stop in front of a large door, with their quarry on the other side.
"Are you ready for this?" said the blue haired warrior, the Falchion in his hand. In response, large sparks of incandescent lightning appeared across his partner's outstretched arms, condensing into a glob of cackling electricity hovering over his gloved hands.
"I was born for this," the robed man said, than added after a thoughtful pause, "Quite literally in this case." The warrior smirked in response, before grabbing hold of the man's shoulder and saying, "Listen: this is it. Our final battle and no matter what, you are one of us, and no "destiny" can change that."
After a brief moment of the two looking each other in the eye, the man finally said, "You're not going to kiss me, are you?" Snorting in amusement, the warrior let go of his shoulder, before saying, "Now let's kill this dastard and be done with it!"
stretching his hand towards the door, the man demolished the door with a blast of thunder, the warrior dashing in. However, the warrior was forced to change his momentum with a quick roll to the left when a surge of dark flames rushed at him. The man rushed in after him, both standing side by side to face their opponent: a tall, dark-skinned man in black robes, dark flames dancing around his body; Validar.
"Remember, *****, only your blade can kill him," the man said, "I can at best act as a distraction!"
"Right," the warrior said, readying his weapon for the battle.
"Why do you resist the inevitable?" Validar said, his arms still hanging loose by his side. Despite barely speaking above a whisper, his voice easily carried throughout the room.
"Sorry," the man said, "but me and the inevitable are having a messy divorce. It's what happens when she's a bitch." Validar tilted his head, giving the man a look of pity before closing his eyes and shaking his head sadly.
"Fool," Validar said, "You can struggle all you want, but you cannot unwrite what is written."
"We'll be the deciders of that," said the warrior. Validar gave a nod, finally readying himself for battle, and said, "Than come; I shall show you why there is no victory for us."
At the unheard beck and call of its master, the dark flames surrounding his body begin to move. They oozed towards his left arm, the tendrils of the dark flames looking like the outstretched hands of the dead seeking to drag the living down to the depths of Grima's domain. How fitting, seeing as dark magic takes its power from death, in contrast to Anima magic taking it from life. Within moments, the dark flames coalesced into a ball hovering over his left hand. Than, with a sharp gesture, his left arm shot out, sending the ball of dark flame flying to the floor, with the circle of dark flames appearing around their feet moments later.
The robed man and the warrior dived in opposite directions, barely getting out of the sphere of influence before two hands made of dark flames shot from the ground, the palms smashing into each other as if they were trying to crush a bug between them. The robed man ignored the display- it's not like he hasn't seen it before- focusing on sending a barrage of thunder spells at Validar.
Validar, however, must have known that regardless of what he attempted to strike them first with, he would have missed, and any of the more complex spells would have left him vulnerable to counterattack. Which is why Validar attacked with a simple flux spell, which may be one of the weakest of all dark spells, but it is also the fastest. It also has the added bonus of being the most useful defensively, as shown when Validar intercepts each thunder spell with the dark flames enveloping his hands.
But that's alright. His goal is not to take down Validar or to even hit Validar. He's merely giving the warrior the opportunity to close the distance.
The warrior takes advantage of that opportunity, dashing at Validar like he was shot out of the cannon. He closed the distance with a huge leap, his weapon posed over his head, ready to rend Validar in half.
Whether through luck, highly attuned survival instincts, or perhaps the fact that the warrior is screaming a war cry at the top of his lungs, Validar sensed the attack, and quickly sidesteps the strike. Not having the time for the full incantation to use the Luna spell at full power, Validar creates a single globe of dark energy instead of the usual seven, and sends it flying at the warrior. Despite the distance, the warrior's reflexes are on full display as he easily deflects the globe and attempts to slit Validar's throat. Validar ducks under the strike, the dark flames simultaneously reappearing on his hands, and leaps back. There was a brief lull before the two charged each other.
The warrior fought like a tiger: the epitome of grace, speed and power all in one package. Every stroke was flawless as he flowed from one blow to the next. Ever blow was relentless as he attacked again and again. Not once did he let up, nor once did his manic but surprisingly organized offensive ever seem to be petering out. Indeed, ever stroke seemed to be coming faster than the next, attempting to smother Validar with the sheer weight of his skill and ferocity.
By contrast, Validar was like the cobra, slipping out of every trap the warrior's domineering swordplay put him in. Ducking, diving, dodging, contorting away from every blow, and sometimes holding positions that made his back hurt just looking at it. No matter what the warrior did, Validar was able to escape it and launch a counterattack. No matter how masterful his traps were, Validar somehow finds a way out off it to survive and continue the fight a little longer. If the warrior were attempting to smother him with his might, Validar is proving to be the worst foe to try that on. Validar glides through the oppressive weight of sheer, unadulterated power like a… well, like a cobra slithers across the ground. Like a man who does this day in and day out just to survive.
And to complete the animal similes, he is like the bee… because everyone knows that the bee is the most feared creature in any ecosystem. While it may not be the most flattering of all comparisons, it is the most apt. He stays on the outside, waiting for the perfect chance to strike. Alone, he knows that there is nothing he can do to defeat Validar. Validar taught him everything he knew when it comes to combat, and considering his flexibility on display, probably knows a few moves that he hadn't been taught. So too would his swordsmanship be of little use here; his style is built for single killing blows, not sustained duels, and he doubts he will be able to get the drop on Validar nor would it matter. But that does not mean he can't tip the tide with a perfectly timed strike. Much like a bee's sting, the strike won't kill him, but it will give the warrior the distraction needed to win this fight.
Alas, the perfect moment never came, for the warrior was the first to make a small slip in the duel.
The warrior thrusted the blade at Validar's chest, intent on impaling him, which Validar easily sidestepped. He followed the blow up with a horizontal slash. However, the warrior overextended the strike when Validar cart wheeled over it. With the warrior's blade out of position, Validar launched a single shot Luna spell at him, who was unable the get his weapon into position in time to block the globe of dark energy. The globe hit him directly in the chest, launching him backwards into a wall.
The robed man mentally cursed is inability to do anything to help the warrior. Still, things could be worse: the chest is where the armor is thickest, so his odds of surviving the strike are quite high. He only needs to give the warrior the time to recover.
With that thought in mind, the robed man thrusted his left hand forward, shouting, "Craindre la puissance de l'homme, Thoron!" From his left hand shot out a bolt of unbridled power, given the form of electricity, and would have reached Validar's position within moments.
Unfortunately, Validar saw his hand gesture out of the corner of his eye, turned to face him, and thrusted his right arm forward, shouting a mere moment after the robed man, "et molares ejus devorabitur Fenrir!" From his right hand came a surge of dark energy, taking the shape of the head of a wolf with its jaws open, ready to snap shut onto its prey. The two spells collided into each other halfway between the two combatants, the explosion of power creating a shockwave that nearly knocked them both to the ground. They both regained their balance (Validar faster than he did), with neither one willing to back down.
The two of them continued to pour more energy into their spells, with the robed man's face a mask of concentration. By comparison, Validar looked calm, almost bored, as if victory is assured. The robed man shouldn't be surprised by that; after all, in a direct contest of power like this, Validar will win. Dark magic, after all, costs more energy than anima magic, so most practitioners of the dark arts have trained themselves to have a far larger energy supply than their anima counterparts. With a power struggle like this, he will in the end be smited down (though undoubtedly not killed) by Validar; something that Validar fully knows himself. As such, the robed man decides to do something that might be quite dangerous and risky: he raised his right arm into the air, and prepared to use another spell.
One of the most important disciplines of magic is concentration. If one were to lose their concentration during the incantation of a spell, the spell could easily hurt or even kill the wielder. As such, it is generally unadvised and down right suicidal to try to use a second spell while already using one. Only a master of the craft can have the concentration and ability to pull it off.
Seeing what the robed man was about to do, a gleam appeared in Validar's eye. Validar gave him an approving nod before raising his left hand, presumably to do the same exact thing.
"Craindre la force de l'arme, Mjolnir!" the robed man shouted, his right arm slicing downwards as if he were taking down some curtains. To his surprise, Validar didn't say his own incantation. He merely created a complex symbol using the dark energy on his two outstretched fingers. The symbol hung in front of him for a moment before he flipped it with a sharp flick of his wrists moments before a trio of lightning bolts, each single bolt equal in power to the Thoron spell, exploded upon collision to the ground, shooting up a huge amount of dust and debris that obscured Validar from sight.
Moments later, the resistance against his Thoron spell gave out, and he quickly cut off the spell when it passed through the area where Validar should have been standing and hit nothing. The robed man's brow furrowed in confusion for a moment. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe killing Validar didn't require the warrior's weapon after all.
Then why are his instincts shouting at him to not be an idiot and to get out of there?
"Omni vita mors est; quod est Grima's Truth!"
Oh, that's why.
He dives out-of-the-way of a huge sphere of dark energy flying at him, mentally thanking Naga (despite how ironic that may be) for the fact that the spell doesn't home in like the Luna spell does. He glances up, seeing Validar floating in the air. The only explanation he can think of is that the runic spell must have been for teleportation. He mentally gave his instincts a pat on the head and told it that it's a good boy before looking back at his original location.
He than did a double take upon seeing a dome of dark flames expanding outward at a prodigious rate. He spins around, dashing away from the wall of darkness encroaching on his personal space, losing sight of Validar in the process. After what felt like an eternity, the dome's expansion stopped before quickly retracting and exploding in a shower of dark flames. Thankfully, he was outside the radius of the explosion. Glancing around, he cursed at having lost sight of Validar again.
When his instincts once more howled at him, he spun around, and quickly crossing his arms over his chest to block a kick by Validar, which sent him stumbling back. The robed man bent backwards to dodge the sweeping kick that Validar followed the first kick up with, simultaneously enveloping his hands with cackling electricity. Lacing his hands together into a single fist, the robed man swung his two-handed fist at Validar's head. Validar easily caught it with one hand, which was enveloped with dark flames to nullify his own magic enhanced attack. Validar than punched him in the face with the other hand, which had sent the robed man flying back some distance due to being enhanced by the Flux spell.
Being a mage, however, the robed man has a greater resistance to spells and took considerable less damage from the attack than the one that hit the warrior. The mage hit the ground, rolling backwards to see Validar charging at him, and smashed his Thunder enveloped palms to the ground (perhaps smashing it too hard, going by the shoot of pain that went up his arms). Validar jumped sideways to dodge the bolt of lightning that shot up from the ground. He landed to the ground without losing momentum, thrusting his right hand forward. From it a clawed hand made of dark flames shot out towards him like the hands of the Grim Reaper trying to take the soul of the damned.
The robed man rolled under the attack, knowing that the Flux spell has no homing ability. Getting to his feet, he clapped his outstretched hands, creating a pulse of electricity. Validar was forced to stop his charge and erect a wall of dark flames to block the pulse. Timing it right, the robed man charged him, leaping forward the remaining distance the moment Validar brought his wall down, and attempted to punch him the face. Validar leaned back to dodge the blow, countering with a jab to the face, which the robed man also easily dodged.
From here the two men begin to exchange a flurry of punches and counter punches, each attack dodged or blocked. As he had expected, however, Validar was his greater in hand-to-hand combat. No matter; surely the warrior won't need much longer to get back into this fight…unless he is dead.
He had assumed that taking a hit to the chest wouldn't kill him, only leave him temporarily out of commission. What if he was wrong? What if the warrior was killed instead of merely wounded? He will have brought about the death of his friend through inaction…
The slip in his concentration was all that Validar needed. Instead of dodging or blocking the robed man's next attack, Validar was able to catch it instead. He than grabbed the other wrist, using his magic to nullify each other's spells.
"I have taught you well, ****," Validar said before he head butted him, letting go of the robed man's wrists so he can stumble back.
"But not well enough, it seems," Validar added. He than grabbed the robed man by the front of his robe and, his lean frame obviously belying his strength, spun around and tossed him across the room. Validar than glances over to the warrior, who has planted his weapon into the ground, struggling to one knee. With his armor warped and compressing into his chest, making breathing difficult, the warrior has attempted to take it off.
"For you see, ****, your bonds have proven to be a weakness," said Validar, raising both his hands above his head, "A weakness that has doomed him." He than glances to the warrior, calmly says, "Grima's Truth," and tosses down the sphere of dark energy at the warrior. The warrior, seeing the sphere coming his way, yanked the weapon out of the ground in preparation to block it. All in the room knew, though, that if he was forced to block it, that he is as good as dead: if the attack ever reached that close of a distance to him, he would be caught in the explosion.
From his position on the ground, the robed man extended his left hand. Judging the trajectory of his attack. Hypothesizing the size of the explosion. Deciding the right interception point. Concluding how much power is needed to destroy the sphere… Excelling at all calculations. After less than a fraction of a moment, he said, "Arcthunder!"
A ball of electricity shoots out of his hand, and intercepts the sphere of dark energy with an explosion, obscuring the warrior from both his and Validar's sight; but he didn't worry. He knew that the warrior was unharmed by this assault. He got to his feet, electricity once more cackling off his hands. Validar half turns, obviously unwilling to keep the robed man out of his sight, but also not trusting that the warrior was taken out so easily.
The sound of something hitting the ground caught their attention as they both looked over to the smoke from the explosion. Like a raven out of Grima's domain, the warrior exploded out of the smoke, his weapon swung to rend Validar from left shoulder to right hip. With a swing of his arm, Validar knocks the blow over his head, and then ducks under the warrior's follow-up strike.
The two begin their dance once more, but with a slightly different cadence. Knowing that without his armor, Validar would only need one clean shot to kill him, the warrior is more cautious with his strikes, less willing to push an advantage than last time. This gives Validar more chances to take the offensive, to set the rhythm of their fight. Furthermore, the strike to the chest has obviously slowed him down some, where once he had an advantage in close quarters, now the fight is more or less on even terms. A stalemate: ending in what will be a battle of attrition.
"*****!" the robed man said, "If I don't involve myself, he will win in the end!"
"Give everything you got!" he replied, deflecting a clawed hand made of dark flames, countering with his own swipe aiming for Validar's neck. Validar leaped back to dodge the blow. The robed man took that moment of separation the leap caused to prepare himself before saying, "Ce doit éclairer la vérité; Elthunder!" He than sent a barrage of electric globes at both the warrior and Validar.
If before they could be described like dancers, now they're more like two men walking on a tightrope while reading a book in one hand and punching each other with the other. The amount of concentration the two are showing to be able to dodge dozens of his globes of electricity while simultaneously attacking each other and (in Validar's case) still having the concentration to keep hold of the Flux spell is quite impressive. For Naga's sake, At one point the warrior deflected one of his globes right at Validar, who deflected it right back at the warrior with a swipe of one of his hands. This game of ping-pong with a deadly attack continued until the energy he infused into the globe gave out. He would be flabbergasted at the display if this weren't something he has grown to expect from everyone around him, himself included.
Still, his barrage doesn't seem to be affecting the duel as much as he was hoping it would, so he changed tactics. Lifting his foot, he stomped the ground. A six-foot high wall of electricity shot out from his stomp towards the pair, quickly expanding from wall to wall. To his surprise and annoyance, they both dashed towards the same wall, still exchanging attacks and counter attacks. Validar reached the wall, jumped, and pushed off of it to give himself enough height and to land behind the wave. The moment he landed, he said, "Fenrir." A smaller and weaker version of the Fenrir spell he had used previously was shot at the warrior, who had just gotten over the wall. The warrior, however, had the presence of mind to deflect the attack with his weapon, sending it right back at Validar. Validar leaped back to dodge it, giving the warrior the time he needed to close the distance on him.
Well, other than moving the fight closer to him, that didn't do anything. His plan requires the two to be separated, and he can't just order the warrior to do that. After all, anything the warrior hears, Validar will hear, and Validar would make sure to stick to him like glue from that moment on.
He'll have to force them apart, than. With that in mind, he extended his hands towards the floor and shot a bolt of lightning into it. He held the spell for the moment needed for them to notice the build up of electricity beneath their feet and leap back in opposite directions. He than unleashed the bolt of lightning that shot out from the floor, hitting the ceiling, than split off into twelve bolts that ricocheted all over the room, leaving the two too busy dodging the bolts of electricity to come after each other again. Though apparently not busy enough for the warrior to not give him a look of what-are-you-doing-you-crazy-bastard?
Needless to say, the look is quite commonly given to him, though he doesn't understand why; one would think that the warrior would realize by now that he always has a plan.
With the two busy with his electric bolts, he extends his right hand towards Validar, created a large sphere of electricity, and spit it into three globes. The moment the electric bolts stopped bouncing everywhere, but a moment before the two resumed their attacks, he shot them at Validar, two of them flanking him to the left and the right while the middle one shot straight at him. Forced to hold his position, Validar dodged the one shot straight at him with the tilt of his head, and blocked the other two with his dark flames enveloped hands.
At the last moment, though, he seemed to realize that he forgot about the warrior. He spun around just in time to see the warrior charge him, thrusting his weapon towards his stomach. Validar attempts to contort himself away from the blow but wasn't fast enough to dodge it completely as the weapon stabbed into his side. However, rather than let the warrior yank it out, Validar instead grabbed the hilt and pulled himself closer to the warrior. He than backhanded him at the robed man, the two of them tumbling to the ground in a heap, the warrior landing on top of the robed man, as Validar backed away from them both.
"Your doing a poor job of dissuading those theories, *****," the robed man said, after taking stock of their situation. Rolling his eyes, the warrior rolled off of him, and got to his feet, saying, "Now is not the time for banter."
"I must agree with him on that matter, ****," said Validar, yanking the sword out of his side, and quickly covering the wound with his left hand. Simultaneously, the robed man got to his feet, and said, "Oh, well, if the man trying to bring about the end of all life as we know it believes bantering is not a good idea, who am I to argue?"
"Banter, as you call it, is only used by those who are winning," Validar said.
"And we're not winning?" said the warrior.
"I have the only weapon that can kill me in my hand," said Validar, "And I have only one wound to show for it. You have lost."
"We will not have lost until we're steaming corpses before you," said the warrior.
"And that is why you have already lost; because you believe that you can fight your destiny."
"But we're not fighting our destiny," said the robed man, "No matter how much I'd love to fight that asshole who thinks he can decide my fate, we're not fighting him. We're fighting you; the idiot who thinks that he can't change his destiny for the better."
Validar looked at him with sadness and… pity?... before saying, "You do not realize, do you? You do not know that *****'s defeat was assured before you even entered this room. You do not know that Grima's victory was assured the moment you were born. These delusions will only make the inevitable that much more painful. In the end, you will only be hurting yourself when Grima finally rises again."
"Well, thankfully for us," said the robed man, "Grima is not out of his box yet."
"And if it were up to us," said the warrior, "He would never harm another living soul again. Our promise to Naga."
"Unfortunately for all of us, it is not up to you nor is it up to me," said Validar, tossing the weapon behind him before raising his right hand above his head. He than looked at the robed man, and added, "For if it were up to me, I would spare you the pain of events to come." He than clinched his raised hand and intoned, "Tenebris enim occidit omne, quod legitur ex libro Goetia!"
From Validar's right hand appeared tendrils of lightning with a black hue, dark energy infused with the lightning to increase its strength. It shot out in their direction in random, chaotic bursts. The black lightning expanding outwards like the branches of a tree until the space between them and Validar was filled with the dark lightning like snakes writhing throughout the room.
Thankfully, he and the warrior are far enough away that dodging strikes from the lightning is relatively easy. Presumably, Validar's wound is preventing him from concentrating, since the robed man knows for a fact that the lightning can be shot out in a more concentrated attack. He supposes that it doesn't matter though: one would have to be insane to try to go through that…
"Cover me," said the warrior.
… This is why it should come as no surprise that the warrior is going to try to do just that. The robed man swears, he might as well have "we make insanity look awesome" on his business card. This also doesn't say much about his own sanity that he agrees with this course of action.
The robed man raises his own hand above his head, giving a nod of agreement to the warrior, and began to chant: "Mal tombera sous la glace et la neige. Mal est écrasé pendant le début de la fin. Le sang du mal sera versé pendant les jours de Fimbulvetr!" From his hand came the freezing wind which quickly expanded towards the lightning. From within the freezing wind came ice the size of baseballs of such an innumerable amount, it was practically a wall of ice hovering in front of him. When the robed man was satisfied with the amount, he threw his arm down and then thrusted it forward, shooting out the ice at the tendrils of lightning. Chaos ensued as the ice collided with the tendrils, exploding into fine powder with ever hit. Everywhere within the room this happened, creating a storm of ice and lightning that looked like a battle between the two elements themselves.
And this chaos is what the warrior threw himself into, intent on reaching the man, and thus the weapon, at the other end of this maze of ice and lightning. Dodging, ducking, dipping, diving, dodging; for ever tendril that the ice couldn't take, he was able to get away from. For ever tendril he couldn't dodge, the ice intercepted. A rhythm and dance emerged among the cacophony of exploding ice and snaking lightning, as he slowly but surely approached the unmoving target.
After all, with spells of this power, the mage has to concentrate on it to the point where moving would end the spell. All the warrior needs to do is reach him. Reach Validar by whatever means necessary.
And despite the slow going and occasional setback that forces the warrior to move backwards, he is closing the distance. Hurdling over a low aiming lightning bolt as the ice deals with others that would have taken his head clean off. Sliding under others that aimed for his head while the ice ensured clear skies. Rolling away from the coming battlefield he wants no part of as armies of lightning and ice amass and destroy each other. Spinning around the advancing trio of ice and lightning which charge each other like knights on horseback, ending with a stalemate and complete annihilation of both sides.
Step for step, inch for inch, the warrior closes the distance on Validar, only a single blink showing his surprise at what is transpiring before his very eyes. After what felt like an eternity, the warrior is finally within a few feet of Validar and, throwing all caution to the wind, charges him, succeeding in tackling him to the ground. The warrior rolled off of Validar, shooting towards his weapon, and, with the help of his dodging ability and the robed man's spell, succeeded in reaching it.
Discontinuing his Goetia spell, Validar got to his feet, his right hand extending forward, shooting out a clawed hand of dark flames at the warrior. The warrior spun around the attack and, with his back to Validar, thrusted his weapon beneath his right armpits.
A pregnant pause filled the air as Validar's arm came down. He looked down to see the weapon pierce his stomach. Adjusting his grip and his position, the warrior grabbed one of Validar's shoulders and thrusted the weapon so deep into the wound almost the entire blade came out Validar's back. Forgetting about the wound in his side, Validar weakly grabbed the warrior's shoulders, saying, "This isn't over; this will never be over." Validar than collapsed to his knees, the warrior calmly walking around him and towards the robed man. Validar, though, was obviously not finished as he twisted around to face the warrior's retreating back, despite the obvious pain the move made.
Validar then said, "Your death is all but assured, *****."
"All death is assured," said the warrior, looking over his shoulder as Validar hacked up blood from his mouth, "the trick is to live ones life to the fullest, no matter how long that life may be." The warrior than continued walking towards the robed man.
"Than I must apologize," Validar said, collapsing to the ground, a hand outstretched towards them, "For it seems you gave me no choice but to damn you both!" Validar's glazing over eyes suddenly snapped into focus, his outstretched hand raised over his head, aiming the attack at the warrior as he said one last word: "Fenrir!" Dark energy shot out of his hand, coalescing into the head of a wolf, and raced towards the warrior.
The warrior turned to see the attack, and brought up his weapon to block the blow. But much too slow; much too slow. The attack will hit him directly in the chest, and it will kill him.
Unless he stops it from killing him.
The robed man, thinking fast, shoved the warrior to the ground, the attack trimming of a few of his hairs off as he fell to the ground. Not having the time to incant a spell strong enough to stop a Fenrir spell, even a Fenrir spell incanted with a single word, he merely used the Thunder spell, coursing it across his body and hoping that it combined with his magical resistance will save his life.
The spell hits him directly in the chest, and his eyesight flashed white for the briefest of moments as he careens backwards, landing in front of the open door they entered through at the beginning of the fight. The warrior rushes towards him, going down to one knee as he said, "You alright?"
Unable to speak currently, the robed man gave him a smile, which seemed to be enough for the warrior as he helped him up to a sitting position. They both glanced over to see Validar's body turn to dust and blow away.
"That's the end of him," the warrior said. Yes, yes it is. They won the day, and saved all of existence. Grima will not rise due to the actions of Validar. For now, everyone can breathe easy.
"With your help, we were able to carry the day." Well, that and the insane actions of his commanding officer. Seriously, he might have to have a vote with the others to find out what everyone believes to be his craziest action since he entered their lives. If he were a betting man (which he is), this one won't crack the top ten.
"We can rest easy now." Still, his crazy act did help them achieve victory…
Victory? You think that you are victorious? Heheahahahah.
They were both getting to their feet, when suddenly, a spike of pain shot through the robed man's head, making his vision swim and impairing his hearing with ringing in his ears. "At long last…"
I shall come, and all who stand in my way shall die.
Another sharp pain blossomed in his skull, and he had to bite his tongue to keep from gasping in pain. A hand came up to his temple, a move that the warrior saw as he glanced over to him, his brow furrowing in concern, he said, "hey, what's wrong?"
What's wrong is that you have not died like the sheep you are.
Unlike last time, though, the pain didn't disappear, and the pressure in head continued to increase as the robed man cradled his head in one hand. Concerned, the warrior grabbed his shoulders. "Hey, hey," the warrior said.
But that's alright.
"Look at…" started the warrior, but he cut himself of with a sharp gasp of pain.
That annoyance can easily be solved!
The warrior stumbled back as the robed man looked down, seeing a weapon embedded in his chest, the warrior gripping it as if he plans on pulling it out; but they both knew that it was fatal.
Is that… his? He glanced over to the now empty hilt, than at his right hand. Did he just kill his best friend in cold blood? Did he just kill the first true friend he ever made?
"This is not your… your fault," said the warrior, as if he was listening in on his thoughts. He was always so good at reading him…
"Promise me… you will escape from this place. Please; go." With those final words, the warrior's once powerful limbs lost all life as he collapsed in front of the robed man, and breathed his last breath.
…They failed. In the end, they weren't strong enough to fight fate. He wasn't strong enough to fight his destiny.
Of course you weren't. There is no shame in being beaten by fate. To be able to fight fate, you would have to be a god. By the way, just for your information, he was completely wrong. It was your fault. You thought that you were strong enough to fight your destiny. You are not. In the years to come, you shall be the shining example in all of creation of what happens when one fights their destiny: all one earns from such stupidity is suffering and, more importantly to me at least, PAIN.
This time, he didn't resist the urge to scream.
Blackness engulfed him as he slowly regained consciousness.
"Chrom, we have to do something," he heard someone, a young girl, say. If he had to guess, she was standing directly over him. Slowly, he begins to open his eyes when a second voice, a male voice that sounded strangely familiar, said, "What do you propose we do?"
Despite still opening his eyes, he could vaguely see the girl, going by the pigtails, turn to look at someone, presumably the male he just heard.
"Uh, I don't know!" said the girl as his vision finally swam into focus. Standing over him were two people: a muscular blue haired man that was in his early twenties and a much shorter blond girl in her teens. Much like the voice, the sight of the man was familiar, but he can't quite recall why. He tilted his head to get a better view of the man, catching their attention as they both leaned down.
"I see you're awake there," said the man.
"Hey there," said the girl, smiling at him.
"There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know," said the man. A fact he knew all to well, going by the soreness in his back.
"Give me your hand," the man added, extending his own hand. Still disoriented, he took it without much comment, and let the man help him back to his feet. As he did, he caught a glimpse of a red tattoo with six eyes on his hand.
Dammit, he should have covered that already. Who knows how these people might react to the mark of the Grimleal. He doubts that it would be with awe. Or with an "Ahhhh."
"You alright?" asked the man. Well, uh, let's see: his vision is still a little blurred, his ears are ringing, he's got a headache the size of Grima, he's having difficulty remembering most of his life, he's disoriented and has no idea where he is, and he really needs to pee.
Yep, sounds like he passed the physical to him.
"Y-yes," he said, "Thank you, Chrom." The now named Chrom blinked, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise.
"Ah," Chrom said, "Then you know who I am?" He opened his mouth to answer, pausing when he realized he didn't know how to answer. While he does vaguely remember Chrom, having once even seen him before, he can't really say he knows him. That is why it is a surprise that he is so familiarity with the man's name, as if he's been using it for years.
"Actually, I overheard her," he said, gesturing to the girl, "saying your name when I was waking up."
"Oh," said Chrom, "So what are you doing all the way out here? Passed out. In the middle of nowhere." That is a good question… one that he can't quite answer. While the rest of his memories are finally beginning to slowly swim into focus, what happened out here has been maddeningly absent.
"…I'm sorry; I'm not a hundred percent sure about that."
"…Hm, how curious," Chrom said, stroking his chin, "Tell me, what's your name?" Now that's a question he should be able to answer… but for the life of him, he can't. Every time he reaches for it, it slips out of his fingers. The headache is not making it any easier, either.
After a brief moment, thinking, he finally said, "I don't know." Well, might as well try fishing for information. "Do either of you know where I am exactly?" Neither of them answered. Instead, Chrom's frown deepened and the girl seemed to give him a brief check over before her eyes lit up as she excitedly said, "Hey, I know what this could be. He might be suffering from a concussion."
"Or he might be suffering from a terminal case of bullshit," a third voice joined in, drawing his attention to the, until now, silent third person. The man was older than the others, late twenties to early thirties, has short cropped brown hair, and is taller and more heavily built than the other two are. A knight or perhaps a personal vassal, if he had to guess. Wouldn't be a surprise, if Chrom is who he thinks he is…
"We're to believe you remember milord's name, but not your own?" For once in his life, he is actually telling the complete truth, and someone thinks he lying. Go figure.
He raised his left hand as if taking a testimonial and said, "I speak the truth and nothing but the truth."
"What if it IS true, Fredrick?" said Chrom, "We can't just leave him here, alone, confused and possible injured. What sort of Shepherds would we be than?" Sheep tenders? What the hell type of sheep could they be tending?
"Just the same, milord," said the now named Fredrick, "I must emphasize caution. 'Twould not do to let a wolf into our flock." Who the hell says 'twould nowadays? Besides men with six and a half-foot poles up their asses, anyways.
"Right than," said Chrom with a nod, turning to look at him, "Looks like you'll be coming with us to sort this out."
"But what about his concussion?" asked the girl.
"You're not treating him here, Lissa," he said, "Besides, we won't be walking that far anyways."
"I'm getting the impression I don't have much of a say in this," he said. Not that he's complaining. They could at least get rid of his headache. After that, though… well, he'll just have to play it by ear.
"Nope, not really," Chrom said with a smile. He than held up a hand as if to ward off any spoken words before adding, "Don't worry. I promise we'll hear all you have to say when we've dealt with that concussion. Now come."
"So, you going to put me behind bars or something once we reach our destination?" he asked as they walked, them walking with Chrom and Lissa flanking him and Frederick taking up the rear.
" You'll be free once we establish you're not an enemy of Ylisse," said Chrom. The Halidom of Ylisse, ruled by the exalt Emmeryn, and if he is correct, he is currently with the crown prince. He supposes that's why they want to make sure he's not an enemy, which he technically isn't. For now, anyways.
"Is that where I am? Ylisse?"
"You don't even know when you've crossed our sovereign borders?" said Frederick, "Ha! Someone pay this actor, for he makes quite the fool!"
"Frederick, please," said Chrom, "I very much doubt you would know whether we crossed our borders or not." He glanced over to him, before continuing, "Come to think of it, I don't think we gave proper introductions. My name is Chrom, which you already knew, and the delicate one is my little sister, Lissa."
"I am not delicate!" Lissa said with a stomp of her foot and a punch to Chrom's arm, eliciting a laugh from him. Yep, she seems delicate to him.
"Ignore my brother, please," she added, "He can be a bit thick sometimes. But your lucky the Shepherds found you. Pirates would have been a rude awakening."
He eyes both Chrom and Frederick briefly before saying, "Apparently you expect your sheep to be pulling weapons on you."
"Heh, what can you say," said Chrom with a wink, "It's a very dangerous job. Just ask Frederick the Wary here."
"A title I shall wear with pride," said Frederick, "Gods forbid one of us keep an appropriate level of caution. I have every wish to trust you, stranger, but my station mandates otherwise." Oh damn, Frederick's station mandates having a pole up his ass. He's screwed.
In all seriousness, though, the caution is quite prudent. He is a stranger after all, and just because he's injured doesn't mean he's not a threat. He can respect his prudence.
"You needn't worry," he said, "I would be acting the same way in your position. If it is of any help, my name is Luke." He twisted around to extend a hand to Frederick, which he than lowered when Frederick didn't take it.
"Luke? Is that foreign?" Chrom asked, than added before Luke could reply, "Ah, well. We can discuss it later. We're almost there. Once we…" he than cut himself off when something caught his attention.
"Excuse me," he said before holding a pair of fingers to his ear and saying, "This is Chrom."
A few moments passed as Lissa and Luke watched him with interest as he furrowed his brow in concern before he finally said, "I understand. I'll be right there."
"Looks like we're needed," Chrom said, lowered his hand while glancing over to Frederick,
"May I ask what the situation is, milord?"
"Our sensors have picked up pirates attacking the nearby space station."
I'm going to let that last line sink in a bit.
...
Author's note: yeah, that's right. This is basically Fire Emblem Awakening IN SPACE! You didn't really think I would spend my time and energy with a simple novelization, did you?
I'm not going to label this as science fiction, by the way, because I really want to see the amount of WTF's that'll ensue. Or at least that was the original plan,but after a day,no one's reviewing. Maybe they think this is just a normal old novelization? As such, the WTF when they see it marked as Sci-Fi will have to suffice.
I'm sure you all have a lot of questions. Ask and I shall tell (though not too much depending on your question). I will only make note of one thing (to keep this AN short): most of the dialogue I lifted directly from the game. I will only being doing that for this chapter. The whole point of that is to make you think I was really just writing a simple novelization. As I said above, Fanfiction is the place to twist things and see what comes out of it, not to keep it the same (this is, of course, my personal opinion on the matter, and you are free to disagree).
By the way, just guess why I decided to name the Avatar Luke. Go on, guess.
And Please please PLEASE review. Seriously, this has been up a day,and I'm getting the fanfic equivalent of cricket noises.
Fine, be that way... I'm still releasing more chapters anyway.